Communication systems and architectures have become increasingly important in today's society. One aspect of communications relates to maximizing bandwidth and minimizing delays associated with data and information exchanges. Many architectures for effectuating proper data exchanges can add significant overhead and cost in order to accommodate a large number of end-users or data streams. For example, a large number of T1/E1 lines may be implemented to accommodate heavy traffic, but such lines are generally expensive and, thus, usage of each one should be maximized (to the extent that it is possible) in order to achieve a system benefit per-unit of cost.
Compression techniques can be used by network operators to produce high percentages of bandwidth savings. In certain scenarios, network operators may also need to consider quality of service (QoS) parameters. This is because there are generally disparate types of traffic (e.g. voice, web browsing, etc.) present on the backhaul. This traffic is not impervious to synchronization and timing issues, as certain flows cannot afford to be delayed in queues. Thus, in many cases, these packets should be communicated immediately after being received.
A lack of coordination of various types of traffic may yield a failure of voice calls or, in other instances, specific packets being dropped. Accordingly, the ability to provide a communications system that consumes few resources, properly accounts for QoS, optimizes bandwidth, and achieves minimal delay presents a significant challenge for network operators, service providers, and system administrators.